Nikko Drive, Udon noodle making, Ohya...

This week Warren and Jim came to visit.  They successfully rode the bus from the airport to Utsunomiya by themselves with no trouble.  We met them at the station in town and drove them home.  For the first weekend I took them to the mountains.  I learned a few new roads from last weeks bike ride, so I took them there (by car).   We stopped off at a nice scenic river to stretch our legs.  I climbed down to the water and took this picture of them on the ledge.

Liam decided to pose with one of the stones in the river that had been eroded by the water over the years.

After I fell in the water with Colleen we continued on our journey toward Nikko lake.  The next interesting sight was the giant Tori Gate that spans the road.  I posted a picture of this last week, but it was from my cell phone so the quality was not so good.  If you double click this one it will expand and is of better quality.  I had a picture of us standing under it, but we were so small you couldn't really see us in the thumbnail size photo.

Next we hit a small temple that I saw while on the bike ride, but didn't stop at.  It had a number of interesting statues and is beautiful with the mountain backdrop.  I included a couple of the more interesting photos below.

I really liked the thick moss growing on this stone pagoda.  Makes for an interesting picture.

Next on the route was another temple.  This is the same place I had ice cream while on the bike ride.  The ice cream was so good the last time that I decided to have it again.  It was better the first time, but still very tasty.  This time we paid the money and explored the temple a bit.  At the gate they were selling fish food.  I decided to buy some for the children not knowing what kind or how many fish they would have.  Turned out there was a beautiful pond on the property that was filled with monster koi.  They actually were some of the biggest I have seen.  As the children started feeding the fish you could see ripples coming from all corners of the pond as the coy swam toward us.  It was like jaws.  Before long we were swarmed with carp and the calmness of the garden was drowned out by the slurping noise of all the fish fighting for food.  shleerp, shloop, shlerp.......

Here is a better overview of the pond that the koi were in.

Once we finished with the temple it was back in the car for more super curvy and narrow roads.  I was able to connect this route to Irohazaka which took us to lake Nikko.  In the past the children have asked to ride in the swan boats at the lake so this time I decided to comply.  We all piled into one pedal boat (it was a very tight squeeze) and pedaled out into the lake.  Jim and I did the pedaling, Warren steered, and the children climbed all over the boat, both inside and out.

I wrapped the camera strap around my arm and held the camera out over the lake for this one.  Came out OK for not even looking through the lens.

and one of Colleen taken using the same method.

This is a picture of another family out on the lake.  I couldn't hold the camera far enough out to get this angle of our boat.  As you can see it was a bit cloudy.  It threatened to rain all day, but never really did.

We were able to eat soba noodles and head down to the town of Nikko in time to see the temples before they closed at 4:30.  On the way back I finally successfully found Kegon falls.  To see the falls you have to pay an elevator fee.  The elevator goes down through the bed rock to an observation deck where you can get a good view of the falls.  This water fall is created from the run off of the lake we were just boating in.  It was worth the stop as it was a very beautiful waterfall.

While we were driving around and seeing the sights in the mountains Kate went to make Udon noodles with Sachiko san and the Caos.  The Udon noodles are made with water, flour, and salt.  First the ingredients are mixed by hand.

After it is mixed well the dough is put into a bag and then stepped on repeatedly with your feet. 

The next process is rolling the dough out to the desired thickness.

Then the dough is folded over and cut with a knife.  Here is Mike displaying his mad Udon cutting skills for the camera.

The finished product just before boiling in water.

The finale of the class was lunch made from the days work.

Mike and Kwan enjoying the finished product.

If you want to see the actual process I have attached a video of a chimpanzee making Udon for your viewing pleasure.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl2jiSj_Fw4

Finally to close out the week we took a trip back to Ohya.  I didn't include some of the pictures as I have posted them in the past, but this was the first time we went down into the Ohya stone mines.  It was hot outside, but quite cool down in the mines. 

Kate went down the left handed traffic route as she is left handed.  we stood there confused as there was no path for right handers...

The stone was mined here for more than 70 years.  It was amazing to see the huge rooms that were carved out as the stone was harvested  the pamphlet said they were the size of a professional sports arena.  Today the stone is mostly used for sculpture and out buildings as it has been deemed too soft for structural use, but as you drive around Japan you see the Ohya stone everywhere.

I can't take credit for this picture, I found it on Flickr, but it shows what a building made from the stone looks like just to give reference of what this stone looks like.  I see this stone a lot in the country side on older farms as well.

Finally Colleen recently picked up a new skill while in Japan.  I decided to post a picture because it is easier to show than explain.  It took her a lot of practice, but she has finally mastered it.  When we get back we may give America's got talent a shot.  From what I have seen on TV of that show she may have a shot...look No Hands...

Have a good week...

Motegi, Nikko area bike ride, Pepsi Shiso...

While Kate was in Tokyo I took the children to Motegi.  Motegi is a Honda sponsored race track that is not far from Takanezawa.  I think it took about 30 min by car to get there.  It is not as much that they wanted to go, but I wanted to go.  It was fathers day so I told them they didn't have any choice.

There were no major events going on at the track, just open practice I think, but there are still many things to see and do there.  Below you can see a little of the race track.  We sat for a while and watched the cars going by.  Looked like difficult driving in the rain.

This is a racing kei car.  In Japan a kei car has a 660cc or less engine size.  Our Diva is a K car.

We also got to check out the Honda collection hall.  It is a three story building with a number of Honda vehicles on display spanning over the history of the company.  Sochiro Honda started the company making engines for retrofitting bicycles in the Post WWII time period.  There were a few of these on display as well.  

Also on display was a replica of the first known motorcycle.  It was made in 1885 and was steam powered.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a car sized combine.  At the museum we saw a snow blower sized combine made by Honda..

There were many cool old cars on display, like this Honda S800.

Old F1 cars.

And the coolest car in the entire museum was clearly this black CRX..

After we finished at the collection hall we went to the activity center.  The children were able to ride electric powered go carts.  They were disappointed that the carts were so slow.

So we decided to try our luck at the pedal powered carts.  They were a little faster, but my knees hit the handle bars so it was a bit painful and I was still slow.

This weekend I went on another long mountain road bicycle ride.  This one was harder than the last.  The road was near Nikko, but not Irohazaka.  There was 5353 ft of climbing and the average grade for 3 kilometers was 10%.

This week I changed my rear cassette to get a little better gearing.  I went from a 21 tooth rear sprocket to a 23 tooth.  I am really glad I did.  Without that I am not sure I would have made it.   This picture is from my phone as we were going up the first real climb.

On the course we rode under a huge gate, this one was the largest I have seen so far.  It was really surreal riding on these mountain roads and just looking around.

6 guys decided to take on this challenging ride, myself Maeshima san, Ito san, Sasaki san, Ishikawa san, Hakamata san.  3 of which I had not ridden with before.  It definitely is more enjoyable to ride with others than alone.  For this picture I held my phone backwards over my shoulder and pressed the button.  Turned out pretty good.

We stopped in the mountains at a temple.  There was a shop there serving ice cream.  Below is from in front of the temple where we got the ice cream.

I am sure the heat and physical effort contributed, but it was some of the best tasting ice cream ever...  Everyone made it back safely.  On the day my heart rate maxed out at 193 and at one point I was able to achieve a little over 46 mph going down the mountain.  There are so many switchbacks it is difficult to go much faster than that.

Finally for this week I went to the Lawson and stumbled on to another new product.  It is Pepsi Shiso.  Shiso is a type of herb.  It is a member of the mint family.  The flavor is difficult for me to describe.  I guess the best shot I could give would be herbal, minty, carbonation.  Kate and Liam have taken a liking to this stuff.  I think just OK..

Okonomiyaki, Geisha Photos, and Eco Center Fun.

This week we were able to go to dinner with Miyazaki san and his son.  He selected the restaurant in Utsunomiya for us to go to.  It was a Okonomiyaki restaurant.  Okonomiyaki is a mix of different ingredients, batter, egg, cabbage, etc...  You cook it at your table to your liking and then put the bulldog sauce and Japanese mayo on it for extra flavor.  There are two main places the Okonomiyaki comes from and both are slightly different.  One is the Osaka area and the other is Hiroshima.  We tried both types at the restaurant.  They were both very good.  Miyazaki also schooled me in the art of tako yaki making.  It was evident in the final result that he has more experience then I do.  Looks like I need extra training before opening up my tako yaki stand.

Below is Miyazaki san displaying his mad tako yaki skills.

Miyazaki sans son behind the Osaka style Okonomiyaki.

Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki.  I think one of the main differences is that the Osaka style comes in a bowl and you mix it up and put it on the grill, similar to a pancake.  The Hiroshima style comes in with pre-layers and it is cooked more like a patty.

For the weekend Kate headed to Tokyo for a farewell celebration for Amy Boeck.  She will be going back to the US next month.  As part of the trip they went to a photo studio that specializes in Geisha portraits.  She said it took about 1.5 hours of preparation before the photo shoot.  Below are a few of the better pictures from the event.  I have trouble recognizing her in these pictures.

From the behind the scene pictures it looks like a pretty big ordeal.

First is the application of the white pasty make up.

The the detail work.

And finally getting dressed.

This is both Kate and Amy (Kate on the right)

Reiko and Nadine went along for moral support.

After the pictures a number of other women went down to join in the evening festivities.  We got a chuckle out of the guy in the middle of the photo.  He wasn't with the group he just photo bombed the picture.

One of the evening events involved a drag show, not the car kind.  Below Kate is pictured with two of the dudes from the event.

While Kate was away the children and I went to the Takanezawa Eco center.  We met up with an old friend Yama chan.  He was at the kite building activity I posted a number of months ago.  This activity basically involved getting out into the woods and fields to explore the different animals and bugs that are around us.  First we explored a little in a wooded area and then we walked to a rice field and the children were then armed with nets.  They tried to catch as many different things as they could in about 30 minutes.

Liam was really excited to catch and hold a huge dragon fly.

Yama chan tried to eat the dragon fly, it was really disturbing...

After the time was up all the specimens were collected to be shared.   The gentleman in the picture was very knowledgeable about the different bugs and animals and shared interesting facts about each.  The children found various bugs, worms, frogs, salamanders, crayfish, etc.  Maybe 1/3 of them I had never seen before.

It was nice to see all the children listen intently as he talked.

Colleen was super excited to find and catch a lizard.  She wanted to keep it, but we don't know how to take care of them.  In the end we ended up letting it go.

Once all the exploration was finished we played a number of fun games to finish out the day.  One of those games was to see how many people you could stack on two legs.  In the end we resorted to using the children as they are much easier to hold than full grown adults.  I think the record was 8...

Almost since arriving in Japan I have been using my bicycle to get to and from work.  The increased activity has also promoted weight loss.   Below is a picture of me with one of our wicked rides. 

When I got here I was about 180 lbs.  This week I bought a scale and found out that I now weight 71.7 Kg.  That is 158 lbs with clothing on.  The reason the picture is 1 Kg higher is because I am holding the camera.  At this point I think I need to modify my eating a little to stop the loss.

The interesting product we found this week is yogurt with aloe.  I am used to putting aloe on sunburn not eating it.  The yogurt actually has chunks of the plant in it.  Kate likes it, but the after tasted reminded me of lotion.  Not one of my favorites.. 

Hope everyone has a good week..